beyond command and control

‘This call may be recorded’

How often do you hear the words ‘this call may be recorded for training purposes’ when you are waiting to talk to someone in a service organisation?

It would be more honest to tell you that the calls are being monitored for inspection purposes. First-level managers listen to the tapes and mark agents off against a check-list. Those who ‘fail’ get feedback (‘training’).

When you study the same calls from the customers’ point of view, you often get a different story. When you take ‘error’ data produced by the inspection returns over time, you find errors are stable.

What does this tell you about the efficacy of inspection?

When you learn how dysfunctional inspection is you get curious about prevention.